By reportedly hiring Doug Marrone as their head coach, the Bills are daring to be different.

Marrone beat out two coaches that have taken teams to a Super Bowl—Lovie Smith and Ken Whisenhunt. It’s a bold move by Bills football czar Russ Brandon, in his first key decision since being given full control of football operations by owner Ralph Wilson.

Doug Marrone, reportedly hired as the Buffalo Bills' next head coach, is a gutsy choice for the team. (AP Photo)

Nobody can accurately predict how Marrone will fare, but give the Bills credit for decisively identifying the person they wanted. Clearly, the Bills are entering a new era with Brandon running the franchise, Marrone the new head coach and assistant general manager Doug Whaley perhaps taking over for current GM Buddy Nix in the near future.

Whaley is 40 years old, Brandon is 45 and Marrone is 48. They will need that youthful energy to tackle the tireless job of finally turning the Bills into a winner. Buffalo has not made the playoffs since 1999. That’s the longest playoff drought in the NFL. During that stretch, the Bills have just one winning season—9-7 in 2004.

Turning around the Bills will be much harder for Marrone than turning around Syracuse’s program. The Bills have major issues after a 6-10 season that led to the firing of Chan Gailey. Ryan Fitzpatrick has not delivered as a franchise quarterback. Their defense was a huge disappointment, despite bringing in high-priced free agent Mario Williams. They're in the same division as the Patriots, where Tom Brady and Bill Belichick have ruled for more than a decade.

We're about to find out if Marrone is ready for this. He has seven years of NFL experience as an assistant coach, most recently as the Saints offensive coordinator under Sean Payton from 2006-2008. But Payton is the play-caller in New Orleans. So the Bills are getting a coach who is highly recommended by Payton, but in many ways on the NFL level, Marrone remains untested.

Hiring Smith or Whisenhunt would have been safer for the Bills. But sometimes it takes risk to be successful. The NFL is an offensive league. The Bills are hoping Marrone, a guy with offensive knowledge, can either straighten out Fitzpatrick or find another quarterback.

Brandon made it clear Tuesday that he wouldn't be afraid to make daring moves to help the Bills win.

"It is time to start, create, and lead this franchise into the future with a new legacy," Brandon said. "I make three promises to our fans. Number one, I can promise you that this will be a forward-thinking, progressive, and attacking organization. I will leave no stone unturned in taking his organization to a world-class level. I will identify and hire world-class people to bring into this organization, but most importantly I will empower people to do their jobs.’’

Obviously, Brandon saw the desired traits in Marrone. A native of East Syracuse, Brandon is familiar with Marrone and the job he has done in four seasons at Syracuse. When Marrone interviewed, he must have been extremely impressive. Marrone wasn’t even the hottest college coach on the market. That title belongs to Chip Kelly. But the big name isn't always the best name. Mike McCarthy of the Packers didn’t create a buzz around the country when the Packers hired him in 2006. Plenty of organizations would love to have McCarthy now.

Like Smith and Whisenhunt, Gailey had experience as an NFL head coach, but he didn’t get it done in Buffalo. Considering their recent history, it's hard to knock the Bills for making a hire that was a little more daring. The Bills have gotten it wrong plenty of times. With Marrone, Buffalo fans can only hope that the Bills have finally gotten it right.